improve

A2 Topic:Cause, Change & Process

US /ɪmˈpɹuːv/ See IPA manual

verb Freq #4878

Meanings

1

verb
To make something better.

Reading every day will improve your English quickly.
2

verb
To become better.

The weather improved towards the evening.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to make something better. better ameliorate

2 verb · to become better. better

More amend batten enhance hone meliorate refine

Opposites

aggravate deteriorate pejorate worsen

Word family

Forms improvesimproving

Derived forms disimproveimprovabilityimprovable improvement improverimprovingmisimprovereimproveself-improve

Related forms empower repair

Common collocations

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman emprouwer, from Old French en- + prou (“profit”), from Vulgar Latin prode (“advantageous, profitable”).

emprouwer xno en- Old French prode la-lat

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Cause, Change & Process

# improve

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** ɪmˈpɹuːv
**Frequency rank:** 4878

## Meanings
1. To make something better.
2. To become better.

## Examples
- Reading every day will improve your English quickly.
- The weather improved towards the evening.

## Synonyms
- ameliorate
- amend
- batten
- better
- enhance
- hone
- meliorate
- refine

## Antonyms
- aggravate
- deteriorate
- pejorate
- worsen

## Derived Forms
- disimprove
- improvability
- improvable
- improvement
- improver
- improving
- misimprove
- reimprove
- self-improve

## Related Forms
- empower
- repair

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: emprouwer
- Root: en-
- Root: prode

## Etymology
From Anglo-Norman emprouwer, from Old French en- + prou (“profit”), from Vulgar Latin prode (“advantageous, profitable”).

## AI Etymology
Improve comes from Anglo-Norman emprouwer, from Old French en- + prou (“profit”), from Vulgar Latin prode (“advantageous, profitable”). The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern verbal form is built from the named base and affix. In current use, the main senses are “To make something better” and “To become better”.

## Topics
- Cause, Change & Process

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